Steps
by Cnm
Summary: Complete! Sakura is going over to Syaoran’s place for a lovely dinner date. She sees him jealous for the first time and finds she likes it. Yet she still doesn’t expect what she is given.


I DO NOT OWN CARD CAPTOR SAKURA

Only Chapter

'Sakura' someone's thought

"Sakura" someone's words

Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran

Please, everyone look to your left to building 402 A. You will see our main focus walk out of the building into the sun as his last class ends for the day. There he is, paused by the trash can. The sun hits his face and he is happy, though he doesn't look it. At least to the untrained eye. Now I will train your eye to see what his friends see. Please notice the slight uplift of the corners of his mouth, how his eyebrows are relaxed and lifted oh so slightly and how there is no tension in his jaw. Even his lips are parted, if only by a hair. Now watch closely as he takes his first steps. There! Did you see it? There was a slight bounce, a sure sign that Syaoran Li is a very happy man this early afternoon.

He has a date with his long time girlfriend Sakura today, nothing huge in her opinion: they will go to his place, have dinner, cuddle up and watch a movie, then when she starts to slip off to sleep, he will pick her up with a smile that no one but her has ever seen before and take her to his room, where they will fall asleep together. This is what happens all the time and will be no different today. But remember, our main focus here right now is not Sakura, it is Syaoran. So that means we get to know things that Sakura doesn't know yet… like the fact that he is going to make a stop at Tiffany's before he goes to meet up with Sakura. And his normal macaroni dinner is going to be changed to fancy steak and lobster dinner. And that two weeks ago, when he had canceled there study session saying that one of his professors needed him late, he had driven the two hour drive to Sakura's dad's house to ask for permission to marry his daughter. And not two days after that, after arriving home from soccer practice he found a very angry Touya in his living room. When Sakura asked about his black eye the next day, he said soccer practice got rough. Let's get back to the now. There he is… just coming out of Tiffany's. He has the little blue box! Hold on… let's just get in his head…

'Damn, that took longer than I thought. Oh man, it won't fit in my pocket.' Syaoran signed in defeat as he took off his backpack and slipped the blue box in his bag, careful not to mess up the little white bow. As he slipped the bag over his shoulder he checked his watch. 'Crap.' He was going to be late. 'Well… if I know Sakura, which I do, she's going to be late too. She's always late.' He smiled. 'In all likelihood, we will both arrive at the same time.' He sighed. 'Nothing will go wrong today.' With that, he picked up his pace to a jog, careful of his pack as he went.

He stopped to let his breath return to normal just around the corner from their meeting spot. All of a sudden his throat dried up and he got dizzy, he flopped down on the bench. 'Now? Of all times I choose now to get nervous? Shit.' He focused on a piece of gum _permanently_ plastered to the sidewalk. Two sets of feet walked into his view, stopping next to the gum. 'Breath…' As he concentrated on the gum he heard the two guys talking. He zoned out there words, making it background noise, still some of the conversation got in. "Check … hottie … body." A cigarette butt hit the ground, and one of the feet smothered it. "… she's … solid 6.7." "Think … easy?" A gum wrapper landed next to the butt. "Please … smiling … naive …." "score …" The voices faded as the feet walked away. 'Come on Syaoran… why are you nervous? You love her. She loves you. Get your ass in gear… MOVE.' Syaoran got to his feet and ran a hand through his messy hair. Taking a deep breath he rounded the corner.

He stopped short. He lost his breath, his hands clenching into fists. He felt his backpack strap strain under his left hand. There she was, Sakura, his Sakura, leaning causally against the wall, smiling as she talked to two guys. The three shared a laugh; his vision went a slight shade of red. 'Breath Syaoran, she is just being… friendly. She's always… friendly.' His mouth dropped open when one of them brushed a piece of hair from her face, the other started to lean. 'How dare they.' He could see his pulse in his vision, anger, protectiveness, the need to claim her took over. He wasn't one for public displays of affection, so he couldn't explain where it came from. Animal instinct? All he knew was that he was already half way across the street, closing in on his Sakura.

He slipped in between the two opposing men, somewhere his mind subconsciously registering that he was taller then both, coming in front of Sakura, his hand found her hip, making its way across her back till he reached the other taking a firm grip, pulling her close while his other hand touched her chin, tilting her face up as his lips claimed hers. The feeling of her arms closing around his neck sent shivers down his spine. His hand slid down her back, coming to rest with his other. He was distracted by the intensity of the kiss. They broke apart, Sakura's eyes locked on to his in amazement. He didn't do public displays of affection. "Sorry I'm late, it will never happen again."

Sakura managed to breath out, "No problem."

She blinked. Once, twice. Then she remembered she was talking to someone. A blush took over her face."Oh! Syaoran, this is…" She looked in front of her to introduce the two guys, but found they were gone. "Oh… where did they go?"

He couldn't help but laugh. Sakura looked at him confused. He pulled her closer to him his lips coming to her ear. "Did you honestly think they would stick around after they found out you were taken?"

He kissed her ear, then pulled away to look into her eyes. She started. "Do you mean to say—"

"Sakura, come on, he even leaned!" Syaoran blinked as I thought came upon him, amazement colored his voice. "I'm surprised I didn't rip his hand off for touching you."

He copied the guys movements, wiping away the others touch, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Mine." He murmured, hoping Sakura didn't catch it. Judging by her smile, she did, but chose not to comment. Instead she hid her now pink face in his neck, rubbing her nose on his skin. Syaoran face reddened as he felt her breath on his neck and realized then that he was still holding her quit close. Alarms went off in his head. 'Major public display of affection! What the hell am I doing?' His breath caught in his throat as he moved to take a step back, only to stop when her grip tightened.

"You are so comfy… I wish you would hold me like this more often." He smiled down at the crown of her head, giving it a kiss.

"Come on, let's get going." He bent down and picked up her bag.

He took her hand in his as they started to head to his apartment. She gave it a little squeeze. "You were late."

He snorted. "First and last time. I can't believe you were already there!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I reserve the right to break my normal routine and show up early every once and a while."

He let out a chuckle. "Fine all rights reserved to you, love."

He smiled at her angry huff. "Syaoran! You know I don't like that. I have a name, please use it."

He kissed her forehead. "I can't help it sometime, I see you and I see the woman I love. I won't forget your name."

Sakura's eyebrows folded together. "Syaoran, are you ok… I don't mean this to sound mean or anything but, you're being kinda mushy today…"

He couldn't help himself, he laughed. 'Shit.' "Can't I show my affection, my love for you, after being scared to death that you were about to be stolen away by those to maniacs? You don't like me saying 'love' so much? Love, love, love, love!"

They started to walk up the steps to his apartment. She laughs too. "Stolen? Come on Syaoran, get real. I love you too much. And I think I like hearing it a ridiculous amount of times."

He pushed her up against his apartment door. "I love you."

They stared into each others eyes for what seemed like hours, but was only a breath. "Are you going to kiss me again Syaoran?"

He rested his forehead to hers. "Yes."

He kissed her. He felt the goose bumps rise under his fingers on her arms. He could feel his hair on his neck standing up. She pulled away, staring at him for a few seconds. He watched her, saw behind her eyes as she thought about something and watched it click. "I figured out the word now."

He took his keys from his pocket, sliding it in the door, never breaking eye contact with her. "Word?"

The door clicked open and she started to stumbled back only to be caught in his arms. "I couldn't figure out what word described you right now."

He led her in, shutting the door as she turned on the light. "And what is it?"

He took her jacket and hung it up in the closet. "Passionate."

She didn't see the smile spread across his face as he hung up his coat. 'You have no idea.'

She started toward the kitchen. "What's that smell? It smells good."

He watched her go, reaching in his bag and pulling the blue box out when he was sure she was gone. He headed toward the dining room, hiding the box behind the book shelf next to the table. He heard her gasp. "Steak? Syaoran!" His smile grew. 'I love you Sakura.'

Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran

The phone rang. Now she was a patient woman, or at least she liked to think so, but she was going to bite off the head of whoever was on the phone for a very specific reason: it was 2:43 in the morning.

"This had better be epic." Silence followed. Her eyebrow twitched.

"Hi Tomoyo."

She sat up in bed. "Sakura! What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just have a question for you."

She flopped back down, her rush of energy drained. "And it couldn't wait till the morning?" Silence. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how important?"

Pause. "10 being really important or 1 being really important?"

Her eyes flashed. "Sakura!" Silence. She sighed. "10 being really important."

"10."

She sat up in bed again, awake once more. "Speak."

"Will you make my wedding dress?"

Her mouth flopped open. She jumped up on her knees. Her squeal sounded through the entire house, waking up the neighbors. "Oh my god, no way! I mean yes way! I mean, you know what I mean! I can't believe it! He did it?"

She heard Sakura giggle. "He did."

She was jumping on her bed, all tiredness forgotten. "You're getting married and I'm making your dress!"

Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran Sakura Syaoran

I would like to thank **xXSakuraBlossomsXx**, **ffgirl-07**, **karone-sakura**, **AngelEmCuti**, **Ami**** Vurbo**, **lhaine07**, **crystalwolfberri**, **Mr. Hello**, **SparklingStar25**, **Kandygurl4**, **Dahlias**, **krizue**, **rosedreamer101**, **YuukixZero16-in-yellow**, **lightning-storm**, **Sofia-Puffergirl** and **kataragurl27** for reviewing this story. It was very much appreciated. I still appreciate people reviewing even though the story is over! Thanks! TTFN Cnm


End file.
